


Classic Doctor Who Bad Things Happen

by Lady_Sci_Fi



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:47:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24380782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Sci_Fi/pseuds/Lady_Sci_Fi
Summary: Some stories from prompts off a Bad Things Happen bingo card for Classic Who UNIT characters.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 9





	1. Forcibly Stripped- Liz Shaw

“Now, now, what do we have here?” a man mockingly asked as he walked into the small empty room where Liz Shaw was being kept.

Liz tried not to let the way he looked her up and down, and the six other men flanking him, unnerve her. She figured he was in charge of this whole operation that she’d been caught looking into. She answered, “An innocent passer-by.”

“Innocent passers-by don’t snoop around,” he countered.

“A curious and innocent passer-by,” Liz corrected.

“That so?” The man’s eyes went over Liz’s body again before he suddenly stepped in very close.

Liz backed her head away only a little, standing her ground. This wasn’t the first time she’d been threatened, and wouldn’t be the last, she was certain.

“Curious, maybe. But innocent? Something about that doesn’t ring true.” The leader sighed as he stepped back once. “What’s your name?”

Liz didn’t answer.

“Oh, please, don’t be like that. Just your first one will do. I simply want to know what I should call you.”

“Liz,” she answered hesitantly.

“Alight, Liz, take off your clothes.”

“Pardon me?”

“You heard me.”

“I don’t see how that’s nece-“

“Take them off,” the man demanded, his men sniggering behind him. “Make sure you don’t have anything we don’t want on you.”

“I will do no such thing!”

The man shrugged. “Fine, we’ll do it for you. Grab her arms.”

“Wait, no, don’t-“ Liz backed up to get against the wall and maybe be able to fight them off. But it didn’t matter as two of the henchmen seized her arms and held them tightly. She tried stomping on one’s foot, but that only earned her a hard backhand from the leader.

“Feisty one, are you? That’s fine by me,” he said, pulling out a pocketknife and opening it.

Liz grimaced as she turned her face back to him. Her eyes focused on the knife. “Don’t you dare!” she hissed. 

“We really do need to know if you’re hiding anything on you,” he explained simply.

“I’m not.”

“Can’t just believe you, you know.”

Liz started to struggle again, but stopped as the leader stepped into her space and warned, “Don’t want to be doing that with a knife so close. I wouldn’t want to cut you.”

Liz winced as the man grabbed the front of her shirt and yanked her forward. Her arms twisted a little painfully with the motion. The leader told her to stay still, then he positioned the tip of the knife under his fist and pushed it through the fabric.

Liz’s eyes squeezed shut and her teeth clenched as the knife effortlessly cut down through her shirt. She shivered as the slightly cool air touched her newly-exposed skin.

The man cut the rest of the part that had been in his hand and pushed the material aside to feel around Liz. She shuddered at his rough fingers on her skin.

“Satisfied?” she asked as he pulled away. She tried not to let it show how much this was starting to frighten her, but her clenched fists and shaking body were betraying that.

He shook his head. To the pair holding her arms, he ordered, “Take it off.”

Liz got another backhand across the face for trying to stop them from maneuvering her arms from the sleeves. In the end, her shirt was dropped to the floor and kicked away.

The leader against came forward, this time the knife coming to cut the straps of her bra. “D-don’t…” Liz whimpered. “Please don’t…”

It had no effect, and within a few seconds, the back was cut as well, and the leader simply pulled the garment off and let it join her shirt. “You could’ve just done this yourself,” the man reminded, his eyes roving over her naked torso.

Liz spat at his face and tried to kick him. He reacted quickly, wrenching her arms from his men’s grips, accidently shallowly cutting her with the knife in the process, and turned her around. He shoved her to the wall, and pressed his body firmly against the back of hers. The pair of henchmen quickly seized her arms again.

The leader dipped his head to say into the woman’s ear, “Liz, you could’ve made this so much easier. But now I’m going to finish what I started.”

A particularly hard shudder went down Liz’s spine as the man’s hands came around her waist and settled on the fly of her trousers. “Th-this has gone far enough,” she protested. The wall against her front was cold, but the man’s weight behind her was warm, and she knew which she’d rather have right now. She considered trying to fight him off her, but knew it would be fruitless, and would only gain more violence from him.

“Get her shoes.”

Liz was helpless as more hands grabbed her ankles and got her shoes and socks off. Her teeth clenched so hard she might strain her jaw as the leader’s fingers began undoing her trousers. A cry escaped through her teeth as he yanked them downwards. “Please, I’m not-“ Another yank. “N-not hiding anything. Stop!”

The leader let go to let the men who had taken Liz’s shoes get the trousers off her legs.

One thing left, and Liz could only hope that wouldn’t be taken as well.

“Now, I’m pretty sure you can’t be hiding anything on you,” the man said in her ear. But his fingers still settled on the waistband of the woman’s underwear. “But I always finish what I start.”

“Please, you don’t need-“ She froze at the feel of cold steel against her thigh. A tear slipped from the corner of one eye as the thin material gave way to the blade.

He cut the other side, and like he had with the bra, pulled it away and tossed it back to the pile on the floor.

“You-you’ve got what you… you wanted. So just leave me alone, now.”

“Oh no, I don’t think so, Liz.”

She regretted telling him her name, hating how he practically purred it through all this.

With one hand, he pulled Liz’s hair back from her face, and pressed his body against her now naked one even more, practically grinding against her. “You know what, Liz, I think I’m going to have some fun with you.”

Liz didn’t need to ask what kind of ‘fun’ he meant. She was naked in a room of men, one pinning her to a wall and now lightly thrusting his groin against her lower back. How had it so quickly gotten to this point? She thought she had been discreet, tailing one of them and getting out of sight when he’d turned around. But she had been too close to their base and had caught someone else’s attention, and now here she was. “Leave me alone!” She tried kicking back at him, but he was too close to do any damage.

“Now, now, Liz.” His hand came around her waist and snaked up her to grab at her chest. “Is that any way to treat your host?” He hummed in her ear. “Maybe… maybe I’ll let them have some fun with you, too.”

“No! Don’t! Leave me alone!” Liz shouted over the catcalls and chuckles from the others. She couldn’t stop the sob at the threat, and the leader’s hand going over her breasts before it lightly gripped around her neck.

“Oh yes, I’m going to have a lot of fun with you. But first…” He finally let her go and backed away. The other two holding her arms also released her. But she stayed where she was, not wanting to turn around. “But first, we’ve got other business to attend to. So, just make yourself at home in here until I come back.”

Liz waited until she was absolutely certain she heard that they had all left and the door was closed before she slowly turned her head. She checked the floor, and saw that they had also taken her clothes with them.

She wrapped her arms around herself, and, after checking if the door was locked, huddled in the corner closest to it. She shivered, from the chill and anger and humiliation. All she could do was wonder when the leader would be back, and if she could possibly get away then.

********

Liz lifted her head at hurried footsteps nearby. She tensed, anticipating it to be the leader this time. The previous time had been a man giving her a tray of food. Despite her not getting up and hiding herself the best she could, his gaze was still lecherous as he’d looked her over before setting the tray down and leaving. What if it was the leader this time, coming for the promised ‘fun’?

Well, she wasn’t going to take it sitting down. She took the food tray and gripped it tightly as she stood, ready to swing it if anyone did come in.

The doorknob shook as someone tried to open it. A moment later, the door opened, and Liz swung the tray. It bounced off the man’s forearm, and she let it go when she saw the man’s face. The metal tray clattered to the floor.

“Benton?” Liz asked in almost disbelief.

Benton’s eyes only flickered over the woman before meeting her gaze. “Miss Shaw?” He immediately took off his combat jacket and gave it to her. “Are you alright? Did they hurt you?”

Liz greatly appreciated that Benton didn’t ask the obvious question, and that he hadn’t been rattled into hesitating to give her what she needed. “Only… only my dignity,” she answered as she closed the jacket around her. It was definitely big and long enough to cover what it needed to. Still, she wrapped her arms around herself. “I expect… I expect you’re not here alone?”

Benton shook his head. “We’re rounding them all up now.”

“Oh, good.”

Benton noticed the hard shudder than went through her. “Are you certain you’re alright?”

“Yes, just a bit cold. And…” Benton was safe, she knew. “They… they were going to hurt me. Later.”

The sergeant smiled reassuringly. “Then it’s good we came when we did.”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

“Come on, let’s get out of here.”

Liz followed him a few steps out of the room, the exposed parts of her legs and her bare feet not warming up at all. Then she tentatively asked, “Sergeant, could you… put your arm around me?” She hated how… small and powerless the forced strip from hours ago was still making her feel.

Benton didn’t question the request, instead putting his arm around her upper back and gently pulling her close against him. “This what you mean?”

“Yes, that’s good. Thank you.” She leaned into him as they walked together.


	2. Chained to a Bed- Captain Yates

Mike’s eyes slowly blinked open, and he closed them again at the spike of headache. Had he somehow been drugged or tranquilized?

He moved his hand to try to rub at his face, but it didn’t move more than a couple inches before stopping with a rattling sound.

His eyes shot open this time, and he ignored the headache that came with it. “What the hell?” he asked in complete confusion. He was sitting in a bed, mostly upright against the headboard. He looked down his body, discovering his uniform jacket and shirt were gone. Thankfully, his trousers were still on.

He looked up above his head, and the most alarming thing about the situation were that his wrists were chained to the headboard, with only a few inches of leeway to move around. He tested the strength of the chains, pulling forward as hard as he could.

He didn’t expect to be able to get out of it, and wasn’t disappointed when he couldn’t make them budge past the length that was allowed. Mike blew out a breath and stretched his legs out in front of him. “How did I even get into this?”

No doubt he had been kidnapped. No idea by who, since UNIT wasn’t in the middle of directly investigating anyone at the moment. Mike had been taking care of some UNIT business in London, and then he was here. He had no memory of who had grabbed him on the street and brought him here. And who would’ve half-stripped him and chained to a bed of all things?

The headache had faded to a dull fuzziness, which added credence to the idea that he’d been drugged. His shoulders ached slightly, probably from being in this same position for who knew how long.

With nothing else to do, Mike looked around the room again, taking in more details this time. It looked like a nice bedroom, large and comfortable. Too large to be in a typical flat or small house. Based on this room, whoever had kidnapped him had some wealth. Other than that, he couldn’t decipher any more clues.

Mike froze as he saw the doorknob jiggle, then quickly closed his eyes and relaxed his body to make it appear that he was still asleep. He listened intently, picking up breathing and footsteps on the carpeted floor. He stopped himself from reacting as the person got onto the foot of the bed. That was very difficult to maintain when the person began to crawl up the bed and over his legs.

“You’re not asleep,” stated the female voice. “We saw you on the camera.”

Mike kept his ruse, until the woman moved up him a little more and straddled his thighs. He opened his eyes and glared at her. She looked a little older than him, dark-haired, thin, and of average height. “Why am I here?” he demanded.

“Because we wanted you. Well, I picked you out, and everyone agreed.”

Mike bent his legs up to try to gently persuade her to get off him. It didn’t work. “Wanted me for what?”

The woman leaned down close over him, and put her finger on his lips. “Our own… amusement and desires.”

Mike shook his head, and the woman removed her finger. Still, she stayed so close to him. “What kind of amusement and desires?” He thought he had figured it out, what with being restrained to a bed half-naked, but he would appreciate confirmation, or if it was different than expected.

The woman chuckled. “You can call me Jess. And to answer your question…” She withdrew enough to sit back on Mike’s thighs. Her hands came to rest on the man’s chest, and he flinched at the touch. “You’re a pretty one. Out of all your army boys we saw, I knew I wanted you.”

“Saw us? Where?”

“Does that matter? What matters is that you’re ours now, for our wants.”

Mike briefly closed his eyes and clenched his hands as Jess purposely and slowly rocked forward onto his crotch. “Do you mind?” he said. “I’d rather not-“

“Rather not what?” Jess shook her head. “You belong to me now. Get used to it.”

Mike decided to try another track. “It’s just… you see, I’m taken. And… and she’s the jealous type.”

“Is she now?” Jess laughed. “What’s her name?”

“Joh- Jo…anna.” Mike inwardly cursed himself, but hoped he’d been able to save it.

Jess nodded. “Thing is, I don’t care about your girl. And I don’t think we’re going to return you to her anytime soon.”

Mike didn’t feel too disappointed, knowing it would’ve been a long shot. If Jess and whoever the rest of them were didn’t care about kidnapping an army officer off the street, they weren’t going to care if he was already with someone. “Look, you really don’t want to be messing around with the army. When they know I’m gone-“

“They won’t find you. Where would they even think to look?” the woman asked in a mocking tone. She leaned forward again, trailing her hands up Mike’s torso.

“Unchain me and let me go.” Mike shook his arms to rattle the chains.

“Do you think me daft? I let you go and you’ll tell your army lads, and oh, do we have some plans that would throw a wrench in.” Before Mike could ask what plans, she continued, “You’re a reward for what we’ve done so far.”

“I am not any sort of reward!” Mike protested.

“Doesn’t look like it from I’m sitting.” Jess added to the taunt by caressing the side of the man’s neck.

Mike was done with this now, and drew his legs up to try to knee her in the back.

“Feisty one, are you?” Jess asked, shrugging off the attempted strike. “Good, you’re good-looking and will be fun to play with.” At another attempt to get her off him, she added, “The lads and other girls will appreciate that, too.”

How many others were there? How many wanted him as a reward for whatever they were doing? Did they all want to “play” with him like Jess seemed to want to?

“What exactly am I here for?” Mike demanded.

“For us to do whatever we like to you. Within reason, of course.”

Mike knew there was no point in saying that none of this was within reason. He turned his head as she bent over to kiss him roughly. She grabbed his face to force the kiss.

When she finally pulled away, Mike tried to headbutt her, but she got out of his limited range in time. She laughed it off, and said, “I think you’re overdressed.”

There was only one thing she could mean by that, and Mike immediately kicked out to try to buck her off. She only laughed at the fruitless attempt again. “Oh, I hope you keep up that spirit. A couple of the guys really like that. I think we all do. More fun.”

That comment only made Mike try to break out of the restraints more. He was not going to sit here and be taken advantage of like that by a bunch of criminal men and women.

Jess sat lower on Mike’s thighs to prevent him kicking out as hard, and her hands came upon the fly of his uniform trousers.

“Don’t you dare!” he hissed. He tried to roll over onto his side, but between her firm position and the limited mobility of his upper half, couldn’t manage more than a few inches. His hands clenched into tight fists as her fingers undid the fly and teasingly dipped down past the waistband. “Stop!”

Jess shook her head. “You’re ours now, remember?” She yanked the trousers partway way and moved further down Mike’s legs to keeping pulling them off.

“I said stop this!” The chains rattled as Mike tried to again break the restraints or turn over, whichever happened first. Unfortunately, neither did.

Steadily, Jess pulled at the trousers until they came off his socked feet. Mike kicked out at her again once his legs were free. She simply looked over his whole body. “Oh yes, quite the looker. Your girl was quite lucky. But we’re even luckier.”

“You’re not going to be lucky when-“

Jess pounced on Mike for another hard kiss, holding him there with a hand gripping the back of his head. Her other hand slid down his body to stroke at him through his underpants.

He squirmed, trying to get away from her unwelcome touch. Finally, her mouth and roving hand pulled away. He glared at her in utter contempt. She stared down at him, and pondered, “Now… should I get you all to myself to break you in a little, or do I want to bring in someone else too?”

He wasn’t going to even dignify the question with any sort of answer, and tried to kick her off the bed.

“Ah… I think I’ll bring one of the guys in. I shouldn’t have you all to myself.”

“Let me go!”

“Oh yeah, definitely need some help to break you in.”

Mike wordlessly shouted.

“Now, now, don’t fuss too much yet.” Jess got off the bed and considered her captive. “I bet your shoulders are starting to hurt?”

Mike didn’t answer.

“I’ll let one out, give you some sort of rest.” She picked up a key from the top of the large dresser in the corner and took Mike’s left wrist. She unlocked the chain around it, and backed away.

Mike winced as his arm dropped to the sheets at his side. The sudden movement caused a flare in the ache.

“Do be good while I’m gone,” Jess said, as though she was speaking to a dog. Then she left and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

Mike waited a moment, then raised his newly freed arm to his still chained one. He looked and felt around the chain and lock for a couple minutes with no luck finding any weakness.

He glanced around, his gaze settling on the key on the dresser, completely out of reach. Then he looked around for any kind of wire or tool he could use to pick the lock. Nothing. They’d been good about that.

Mike blew out a long frustrated breath and sat back against the headboard, letting his free arm rest on his barely-clothed lap.

Even if it didn’t do any good, Mike was not going to let anyone touch him without a fight.


	3. Medication Tampering- Jo Grant

Jo drifted in and out of consciousness, each time barely taking in more of her surroundings. Hospital, she figured. Made sense, after the attack she’d suffered.

She couldn’t remember much about it. Couldn’t remember what exactly she’d been doing right before it. Investigating something, maybe?

She remembered some faces, unfamiliar ones. But certainly there was more to what had happened than that…

Jo faded out again, and reawakened an unknown time later. An unknown voice filtered into her ears, and a face above her swam into focus.

“Ah, good, it’s definitely you.”

Jo furrowed her brow, and tried to make a sound. She didn’t get further than a little whimper.

“Hush, hush…” the man soothed. “No need to worry.”

Jo took in his appearance, the male nurse uniform made sense, considering where she was. But his face… his face… She recognized it…

Jo tried to sit up, but only made herself dizzy. He was one of the people she remembered right before her memory went out. Had he tracked her down, or was it somehow a coincidence that he worked here?

Either way, it couldn’t be good, him being here. She whimpered again as his soothing continued, more mockingly this time.

“Oh, so you do remember me, then? We were right to check up on you, turns out.” He leaned over close. “Can’t have you spilling our secrets.”

Secrets? What secrets? Curse her addled memory, why was he important? Something… something she wanted to tell the Doctor or the Brigadier about him and the other people with him.

The man straightened up. “Shame, you’re a cute bird.” He turned to the IV drip. “But we do need to tie up this loose end.”

Jo’s mind was still too fuzzy to make sense of it. She blinked heavily, watching him fiddle with the IV for a moment.

“There, that should do it.” He considered her again. “Sorry, love, has to be this way.” With that, the man left the room, closing the door behind him.

Jo drifted into blackness again.

********

The next time she woke, her arm hurt. Not a dull ache sort of pain. No, it was more an acute sort of throbbing pain. It took her a moment to pinpoint the worst spot, which was around the IV needle. What did that mean?

She shook her head as the now-familiar grey spots came into her vision again. She needed to stay awake, figure this out, get help.

Jo shouted out, or tried to. But again, she couldn’t manage anything above a regular volume. She lifted head slightly to glance around for the nurse call button near the bed.

She had to drop her head back down to the pillows as the pain in her arm intensified and started to spread. Had that man poisoned her or messed with the medication in the IV? She moaned from it, and squeezed her eyes shut.

It took her a long moment to will herself through the pain to try to find that button again. Who knew what was going to happen if she didn’t, and if she waited for someone to check on her during their rounds?

There it was, on the small bedside dresser. She reached out her hand, but it dropped from weakness halfway there.

Her body went slack as her mind faded into darkness again.

********

“… do you mean her condition’s become worse?”

A whimper came through Jo’s mouth as she became aware of a voice. Familiar and good.

“She’s got a higher fever, and she’s shivering.” Another voice, feminine and unfamiliar. “Hold on, she’s waking.”

“Miss Grant?”

Jo turned her head to the Brigadier’s voice and forced her eyes open. Why did they hurt now? “Bri…” Her voice trailed into a pained moan as the agony spiked through her shoulder and chest. “Bri…”

“I’m here, Miss Grant.” Alistair leaned over close. “I’m here, and you’re getting help.”

“N-no…” Jo breathed, her eyes closing again at another spike of pain. She forced them open. “No…”

Alistair turned his head to the nurse. “You told me before that she was on the mend. What happened?”

“I can’t say,” the nurse responded. “Another nurse checked on her three hours ago, as per the schedule.”

“And nothing from then?”

Jo’s breathing quickened, that man’s face coming into her mind. He’d done something to her. Her hand moved over to the IV drip of her other arm. He’d done something to it, no doubt now.

The nurse gently grabbed her wrist to prevent her from trying o take it out. “Now, dear, we can’t have that. You’ll hurt yourself.”

“Listen to the nurses, Miss Grant,” Alistair assured. “They’re taking care of you.”

Jo shook her head. “No…” Why couldn’t she say anything else? It was as though she was too tired, and she couldn’t quite get her muscles to work correctly. “Ca… H-hurts…” It took so much effort.

“Where does it hurt?” asked the nurse. Alistair looked on in concern.

Jo’s hand made a vague gesture along that side of her body and chest. She couldn’t say anything more specific.

The nurse said, “I’ll get a doctor,” and hurried out.

Alistair stayed at Jo’s side. “You’re in good hands,” he assured over her whimpered breaths.

“Hurts…” Jo repeated. “B-Brig…”

Alistair took her hand gently. “What is it?”

Jo slowly blinked as she pulled her hand from his hold. He let go, and she again went for the IV needle.

Alistair retook her hand. “No, you can’t take that out.”

Jo shook her head and tried to pull her hand away again. He held on more tightly, so she settled for turning her gaze to the IV bag on the stand, and pointing at it.

“Something wrong with it?” Alistair let go and rose to go to the other side of the bed to get a closer look. “It looks perfectly normal to me.”

“No. Not…” Jo broke off into a loud moan and squirmed as the pain shot through her chest.

The nurse returned with a doctor, who immediately asked Jo, “What is it that hurts, exactly?”

“She thinks there’s something wrong with the IV,” Alistair informed. “Is that possible?”

The doctor checked the bag. “It’s the correct medication.”

“Could someone have tampered with it?” Alistair protectively placed his hand on Jo’s shoulder. “Someone meaning her harm.” He glanced down to her as she leaned her head against his forearm.

“We’re a hospital. Who would do that?” the nurse asked in disbelief.

“Her condition has worsened quickly,” the doctor mused. “You said another nurse checked on her?”

“Replace it,” Alistair said in a commanding voice. Whatever was going on here, he wasn’t going to risk her health any further. If he was wrong, no harm done. But if he was right… “Now.” He kept his hand on Jo as the doctor carefully took out the IV needle.

Jo sighed in relief as the stream of fluid stopped. As the Brigadier assured, “Don’t worry, I won’t let anyone else harm you,” she fainted fully against his arm.


	4. Damaged Vocal Cords- Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart

“I will not stand for this!” Alistair shouted through the thick plastic-like material of the cell door. “Release me at once! We can negotiate after.” He’d been making such protests for a few minutes by this point, apparently to no one, because there had not been any response yet. Well, he was going to keep protesting until someone did.

“Do you hear me? The longer you keep me here, the worse it may become for you.”

“For the love of Shej, could you shut him up?”

Finally, a response. Negative-sounding, but a response nonetheless.

“Will do, sir.”

One of the aliens, about Alistair’s height with deep red scaly skin, came into view. “Ah, finally, I’ve got your attention,” Alistair remarked.

The alien didn’t verbally respond as he pressed a button and the door slid open. But it was not to let Alistair out. He took a step back as the alien stepped in and unclipped something from his belt. 

“Perhaps you’ll get-“ Alistair started. The alien suddenly leapt at him, pinning him against the wall with a strong forearm pressed to his chest. He attempted to push the alien away, but the presence was too solid to move him. The other man whacked him hard on the side of the head to stop him struggling more.

Alistair froze as something pressed against his throat. “No need to get vio-“ His voice broke into a strange sort of pained gasp. Sharp stabbing pain in his neck, focused on his throat.

The alien released his hold on Alistair, but before the man could bring his hands up, served a chop to the affected area for good measure.

Alistair coughed hard at the added pain, and dropped to the floor, gingerly wrapping his hand around the front of his neck. “What did you do?” he tried to say, but all that came out were hoarse coughed hissing sounds.

“Your constant talking was annoying,” the alien answered.

Alistair looked up at him, and pushed to sit up, not wanting to appear weak. He got upright against the wall, and tried to speak again. And again, he coughed and hissed.

The alien looked down at him for another moment. “You won’t cause any more trouble, will you?”

Alistair glared, but nodded, knowing there wasn’t much else he could do to cause trouble.

Satisfied, the alien left, closing the clear cell door behind him.

Alistair had to wait a moment for the immediate pain from the device and the attack to his throat faded a little to gently rub at it to feel for damage. No doubt a bruise would form from the chop, but he was more worried about the internal damage.

He coughed again. What had that infernal device done? ‘Shut him up,’ one of them had said. Well, it certainly seemed like they’d taken care of that.

Alistair slowly got up, feeling dizzy and nauseous. He made the few steps over to the cot, and nearly dropped down on it. He took several deep breaths, feeling some difficulty and pain in doing so.

He tried shouting, and only managed a hoarse whisper. It also brought another wave of pain. To make certain, he attempted another shout. He sighed and slumped back against the wall.

Damage to his vocal cords? He was no medical expert, of course, but that seemed a very good guess.

Then his mind went to the possibilities. How long would this condition last? An hour, a day, permanently? Certainly these people wouldn’t inflict permanent damage for annoying them for a few minutes, right? Or maybe they would.

He felt the need to clear his throat, and again started coughing after he did so. At least the pain was going away now. Slowly, but noticeably.

He glanced around, and a rather impulsive thought occurred to him. He could still make noise by banging on the cell door. But no doubt they could silence him again, probably by damaging his arms and legs. It really wasn’t worth finding out. His captors didn’t care to listen to him, and there was no one else he could talk to. He’d been captured alone, so there was no one to try to talk strategy and escape possibilities with.

Alistair ran a hand through his hair, and focused on getting a better handle on his irregular harder-sounding breathing. But it simply felt like he couldn’t get enough air in. He could, he knew, because he was breathing well enough. But not as much was coming in as usual.

He quickly refocused on steadying his breathing. He couldn’t panic about choking or suffocating, because that would do no good. It could possibly make it worse. Not that he was one prone to panic, but this was an unusual sort of injury, and the ability to breathe properly was important. He didn’t consider himself a talkative man, but if this was permanent, what would happen to him?

Unfortunately, there wasn’t much else for his mind to focus on to distract it. At the moment, it seemed that he was stuck here waiting for rescue.

********

Some time later, an alien brought him some food and water. His attempt to say thank you went as well as his previous attempt to speak.

The first swallow of water he just about choked on, and he had to stop breathing to swallow it. Then he coughed hard immediately afterwards. After he recovered, he eyed the food, trying to decide if it was worth the possible distress.

His stomach rumbled from hunger, and he clenched his fist from annoyance as he reached for what looked like some fruit on the plate. He couldn’t believe he had to mentally prepare himself to eat a bit of food.

The moment he made the attempt to swallow it, he choked again, harder than with the water. He spit it back up, deciding taking care of his hunger wasn’t worth doing more damage or choking to death, and wheezed through the resulting coughing fit.

He really hoped this wasn’t permanent, because he couldn’t imagine having to deal with this any longer than the rest of the day.

********

“Brigadier!”

Alistair opened his eyes, not having been asleep, at the sound of the familiar voice outside his cell. He shook his head, and his gazed passed over the untouched food and half-drank water from hours ago, to see Captain Yates accompanied by two of the aliens. Alistair immediately swung his legs over the edge of the cot and stood. Had Yates been captured, too?

“We’ve negotiated with them, sir,” Yates informed. “And they’re letting you go as part of the terms.”

Alistair could only give a slight smile at the good news.

The door slid open, and Alistair grabbed his uniform jacket and walked out. Yates’ gaze went to the dark bruise across the front of the other man’s neck, and rounded on the aliens. “What did you do to him?” he demanded.

Alistair firmly put his hand on Yates’ shoulder to turn him back to him, and shook his head, making a negative sound as well.

Yates took in his commanding officer’s harder breathing and apparent inability to talk. “Sir?”

Alistair shook his head again, and tilted his head towards what he hoped was a way out. Yates took the cue to not protest Alistair’s mistreatment, and forced a little smile. “Alright, sir, this way.”

Alistair walked side-by-side with Yates, with one alien leading and one behind them. He wanted to talk to him, ask him how they had managed to negotiate, say he was alright (despite that being an obvious lie). For his part, Yates couldn’t hide the concerned glances to Alistair.

Once they left the ship, Yates led Alistair over to the UNIT truck. “I’m taking you straight to hospital, sir.”

Alistair made a sound of protest, but knew he really did need to. This was serious, with it affecting not only his voice, but his breathing. And since the aliens weren’t going to fix whatever they’d done to him, a doctor was needed.

As they got in the truck, Yates called to the squad hanging around the other truck to head back to HQ. He started the vehicle, and looked to Alistair. “Did they do anything else to you?”

Alistair shook his head.

“That’s something, at least.” Yates drove for a moment in quiet, then asked, “Did you annoy them, sir?”

Alistair fixed a deathly glare at the other man, but Yates didn’t see it. He did seem to sense it, responding with, “No offense meant. Simply trying to figure out why they’d take your voice away.”

Alistair sighed and rested against the seat. He really hoped the hospital would have good news about his condition.


	5. Bound and Gagged- Sergeant Benton

Benton awakened with a groan, and immediately came to full awareness at the feel of something thick in his mouth. Fabric of some kind, he quickly surmised. He tried to take it out, but discovered his hands were securely tied behind his back. His feet were bound together, as well.

“Looks like he’s up,” someone said above him.

Now Benton could feel the vibrations of a moving vehicle, and glanced around. He was lying on his side, on the floor of a van. He tried to demand who they were and where they were taking him, but no words got out through the gag in his mouth and wrapped around his head. He had to settle for breathing heavily through his nose to get anything across.

“Don’t get too upset now,” one man said with a condescending pat to Benton’s head. “You’ll be fine if you cooperate.” He looked up to the driver. “We nearly there yet?”

“Just a few more minutes.”

Benton snorted, and tested the strength of the ropes and knots around his wrists and ankles.

“You won’t be getting out of those without help, lad,” stated the one who had touched him. Benton got the sense he was the one in charge. “So just sit tight for a bit, yeah?”

Benton didn’t have any choice in the matter, and slightly turned in an attempt to be more comfortable.

After a couple minutes of a noticeably bumpier ride, the van came to a stop. The three men in the back with him shoved the door open and jumped out. One grabbed Benton’s feet and yanked him out.

Benton let out a little grunt as he fell from the van to the leaf-covered ground, landing on his hands and shoulders. He kicked out, even though he knew he wouldn’t be able to run away, much less actually stand up, with his feet tied together. Still, he wasn’t going to be a pushover.

The leader laughed at the fruitless attempt. “You’re a big strong army boy, but that does you no good at the moment.” To his men, he said, “Come on, get him inside.”

Benton’s hands scrambled for purchase under him, but he only ended up with handfuls of dirt and crunched leaves. He offered no practical resistance as they half-dragged, half-carried him inside what looked like a medium-sized cottage. Out in the middle of nowhere, it certainly would take a while for someone to find him.

They put him down to rest, and Benton tried to take the opportunity to fight again. He kicked at the shins of one, catching him and making him fall back into a small table. Benton aimed for second kick at another, but a third man struck first.

Benton yelped through the gag as a foot savagely kicked across his face. Blood burst from his nose. The attack stunned him enough for them to pick him up and carry him down to the cellar.

By the time they set him down on the floor, blood had run down his face, and blood had welled in his mouth, both soaking through the gag. He tried to push the thick fabric out with his tongue, but it was tied too well to barely even budge.

The leader crouched down in front of him and considered the predicament. “Now, look what you’ve done,” he mock-chided the man who had kicked Benton. He sighed and reached out to Benton’s face. “Can’t have you choking on your own blood, can we.”

Out of instinct, Benton moved his head away. The leader sighed and got on him, straddling his stomach. Benton grimaced at the awkward pressure it put on his hands trapped under his back. He uselessly kicked out behind the man’s back.

“Oh, calm down.” The leader reached under Benton’s head and untied the red-soaked gag. He pulled it away and said, “Lucky we have spares.” To one of his men, he commanded, “Get him some water, too.”

Benton turned his head to spit the welling blood to the floor. Then he demanded, “Who are you? Why am I here?” He tried to ignore the hard lingering pain in his nose and mouth.

“Nothing you need to know yet.”

Benton shuddered as he accidently swallowed some blood. “Someone will find me.”

“Doubt it. Not until we want them to, anyway.”

Benton tried to fight again, this time attempting to snap his head up to serve a headbutt. His position didn’t let him make contact.

In response, the leader shoved the bloody gag back into Benton’s mouth and held his hand over it so Benton couldn’t spit it out. “Now look here, I said you’ll be fine if you cooperate. But if you don’t…” He let the threat linger in the air.

One man came back from upstairs, a glass of water and a new length of fabric in hand.

“Are you going to be good?” the leader asked his captive.

Benton considered the question. His mouth was feeling both fuzzy from the gag, and disgusting from the blood. He did want the water to relieve both problems. He nodded.

The man took the soiled fabric from Benton’s mouth and scooted down on his body to let him sit up somewhat. He waved over the man with the water, who crouched down next to Benton and tipped the glass towards his mouth.

The first mouthful of water, Benton used to thin the blood in his mouth and let it dribble down his chin. The rest of the water he swallowed eagerly.

As soon as the glass was empty, the leader tied the new gag around Benton’s head. He patted Benton’s cheek, then got off him.

With that, all four men left him.

Benton immediately turned over onto his side to relieve the pressure on his hands, and set to work on trying to loosen the ropes restraining his hands and feet.

********

Benton stirred awake at the loud creak of the cellar door opening. He began shivering, the chilly cellar air having sept through his uniform enough. Hours must’ve passed, and his attempts to get free had only managed to rub his wrists raw and add another point of pain to his already sore shoulders.

“How’s our army boy? Settling in?” the leader asked mockingly.

Benton grunted as he turned to see the stairs. One of the others followed the leader with a plate of food and glass of water. Benton struggled to sit up, but managed it before they got to him.

The plate was set down beside him, and the gag was taken off. Benton glared at the pair. “Going to let me feed myself?” he asked, wriggling a little to indicate his hands.

“Think we’re daft?” the second man said with a snort.

The leader took a piece of broccoli between his fingers and held it up to Benton’s mouth.

Benton stared at it for a moment. “Really?”

The leader seemed to be amused with the situation. “Either I feed you, or you don’t eat. Your choice.”

Benton did not like the idea of being fed like some animal, but he did want to have as much strength as he could if an opportunity to escape came. He leaned forward to take the food between his teeth.

Once he chewed and swallowed the broccoli, Benton asked, “What do you want with me?”

“You don’t need to know. Better that way, for the moment.”

Benton growled his frustration. He took the offered bite of ham sandwich more forcefully than necessary. He didn’t ask any more questions, knowing it would be worthless right now.

“What’s your name?” the leader asked after Benton had eaten half the food.

“What makes you think I’ll answer your question if you won’t answer mine?”

The leader chuckled. “Fair enough.”

Benton glared when that didn’t get the answers he wanted.

“Don’t get so upset, army boy. You’re being fed and taken care of.”

“I’m tied up in a cellar,” Benton pointed out. He took another angry bite of broccoli.

“And here you will stay. Better accept it.”

Benton didn’t speak for the rest of the meal. He tried to stop them from retying the gag, but a hard punch across the jaw from the second man stunned him long enough to let it be done.

“Not so hard,” the leader admonished. “Don’t want him bleeding all over the place again.”

Benton blinked away the dark spots and watched them leave him again. He groaned loudly as he tried to stretch his aching shoulders and cramping legs. Once he’d done as much as he could for them, which wasn’t much at all, he slowly keeled over onto his side into the most comfortable position he could manage. He hit the floor a little harder than intended, and winced.

He took several deep breaths through his nose, and wished they’d at least been courteous enough to give him a new gag.


End file.
